The MCM London Comic Con that took place on 23-25 October 2015 was a huge success with more than 130,000 people attending. Although the place was overcrowded, I much enjoyed the event. I met interesting people, learned a few things, and cosplay was fabulous!

Steampunk is increasingly popular with cosplayers.

The steampunk tent was strategically located near one of the entrances and drew thousands of visitors.

Fantasy was not forgotten: both the light and the dark sides of fantasy were represented.

Fantasy queens at MCM London Comic Con

Last but not least, Halloween celebrations were in full swing. Fun and spooky!

Urban fantasy is a young and vibrant genre of speculative fiction that brings the fantastical into a modern setting*. Elves play guitar in rock bands, goblins roam our cities’ underground tunnels, and the dead rise from the graves to torment—or seduce!—the living. Those who look down on this genre and dismiss it as mere escapism would be surprised to learn about its pedigree. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, as we shall see, urban fantasy is of noble descent!

Let’s embark on a journey through time to the discovery of the origins of urban fantasy.

Origins of urban fantasy

The pioneer of present-day urban fantasy was Charles de Lint, a writer, poet, folklorist, artist, songwriter and performer (according to his official biography). His first novel Moonheart: A Romance was published in 1984, so we can consider this year as the starting point of our journey back in time.

Let’s jump in the seat of our time machine and pull the lever—back in time we go!

The most immediate forerunner of urban fantasy was horror fiction, in particular vampire novels, for example Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles (starting with Interview with the Vampire, 1976). In fact, it is difficult to tell where the vampire subgenre ends and urban fantasy starts. Horror fiction also brings mythological creatures into a modern setting, as urban fantasy does. The main difference is the mood of the stories; while horror fiction focuses on the terrifying and the macabre, urban fantasy is usually lighter in tone and puts more emphasis on world building.

The evolution of traditional fantasy in the 60s and the 70s also contributed to pave the road for urban fantasy. Some authors started to bring together science fiction and fantasy, technology and magic. The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny were remarkable in this regard. Nine Princes in Amber (1970) starts with Corwin, the protagonist, waking up from a coma in a hospital in New York. He has amnesia, but he soon discovers that he’s not from Earth. He’s a member of a superhuman royal family that rules over a world called Amber. He also discovers that our reality is just a “shadow” of Amber, and that there are infinite parallel worlds called “shadows” through which the princes of Amber can travel.

At that time, female protagonists made their appearance in fantasy books thanks to authors such as Ursula K. Le Guin and Anne McCaffrey. In general, women started to have a more active role in fantasy stories, and were no longer merely damsels in distress waiting to be rescued from some dungeon.

Romantic and Victorian periods

Now let’s move back in time to the Victorian period. There we find lots of books featuring magical objects or creatures such as ghosts, vampires or supernatural doubles. Some of those books became classics, for example Sheridan Le Fanu’s In a Glass Darkly (1872), Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan (1894), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), and Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw (1898).

This interest in the supernatural wasn’t new. When we move further back in time, we discover that Romantic authors were also interested in the fantastical. The Magic Skin (1831) by Honoré de Balzac is a good example. One of my favorites is the novella Dead Woman in Love (1836) by Theophile Gautier. It tells the story of a gorgeous woman who was in fact a vampire and who fell in love with a priest. Can one find a better example of 19th-century paranormal romance?

Now we reach the 18th century; let’s stop our time machine and talk about the Gothic novel. This sort of terrifying stories grew in popularity in the 1780s to culminate in 1800 and progressively fall from grace toward the 1820s. (Read more about the Gothic novel, see also The Gothic: 250 Years of Success.) The Gothic novel was more than the forerunner of horror fiction—it set up the foundations for all genres we know collectively as “speculative fiction,” including fantasy. The Gothic novel has many similarities with urban fantasy: intrusion of the supernatural into everyday life, constant presence of tension and fear, and—importantly—female protagonists. The main difference is that Gothic stories were usually set in the medieval times while urban fantasy stories are set in the present or the near future.

Parisfal by Hermann Hendrich

Middle Ages and Antiquity

At this point, we have traveled some 250 years in the past. Can we say that our journey is over? Not quite! Let’s pull the lever again and venture even further. The wheel of time is spinning, taking us to the Middle Ages. Even there we find works that resemble urban fantasy.

Okay, not “urban” in the modern sense. Yet we find stories, poems, and ballads that tell us about magical creatures or objects interfering with people’s everyday lives. Arthurian legends are the most famous example. Do you think that Chrétien de Troyes genuinely believed in the existence of magic cups when he wrote Perceval, the Story of the Grail? Probably not, not more than Neil Gaiman believes in the existence of London Below (or does he?) For medieval authors, the Grail was a symbol, a metaphor, and I don’t see why we shouldn’t consider stories about Perceval as a medieval form of fantasy.

Our journey continues. When we go further back in time, it becomes more and more difficult to separate mythology from fantasy. The Romans, for example, took religion very seriously as it was part of their everyday life. For the Greeks, Hercules was not a fictional character, but a historical figure. People genuinely believed in sirens, ghosts, and faeries. This is where we find the true origins of fantasy, in the belief that, alongside the world as we know it, exists another reality, a magical realm where anything is possible.

Conclusion

What have we learned from our journey? We learned that, although urban fantasy is a young genre, its roots stretch back to the Middle Ages and Antiquity. It took inspiration from some of the greatest literary works in history: the Epic of Gilgamesh, Metamorphoses by Ovid, Beowulf, Perceval by Chrétien de Troyes, Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory, The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, and other classics.

On a deeper level, we can say that urban fantasy is a genre that connects us to our distant past. By opening the doors of our cities to the magical and the fantastical, urban fantasy helps us to discover the cultures of our ancestors, makes them more understandable and appealing to modern readers.

In the next post we will talk about the genesis of urban fantasy and see how a handful of authors managed to create one of the most popular genres in history. Stay tuned!

Today I start a series of blog posts about a largely misunderstood, yet hugely popular genre: urban fantasy. The Guardian recently published an interesting article titled “Urban fantasy fiction: there’s more to it than sex with were-leopards”. Provocative title, isn’t it? This is what urban fantasy writers struggle with—negative, misguided perceptions. My mission as an aficionado of the genre is to dispel those preconceptions and, I hope, bring some clarity to the matter.

What is urban fantasy?

“The numinous. The weird. The fantastic, or even the spiritual. Whatever name it goes by, humans have a profound need to glimpse some greater reality beyond our mundane existence.” In the above-mentioned article, Damien Walter nails it. Urban fantasy brings the fantastical into the mundane—this is the shortest definition of the genre one might give. In other words, urban fantasy brings mythology and lore into a modern setting. It was Dreams Underfoot, a compilation of short stories by Charles de Lint, that launched the genre in the early 90s. We will come back to the origins of urban fantasy in the next post.

Characteristics and main themes of urban fantasy

Urban fantasy is a young, vibrant genre that only recently entered maturity. It’s particularly popular with teens and readers of young adult fiction, the most well-known series being Harry Potter, Twilight and The Mortal Instruments. Some would argue that Harry Potter and Twilight are not urban fantasy, but let’s not split hairs—broadly they belong to the same category.

Urban fantasy is a hybrid genre that lives at the crossroads between fantasy, horror, science fiction, hardboiled, thriller, and romance. One might say that urban fantasy is a liminal genre; it exists where the other genres meet. It lives at the frontier between the mundane and the fantastical, the natural and the supernatural, between technology and magic. Every urban fantasy story involves some supernatural beings and/or humans with magical abilities; yet it’s also rooted in reality.

Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere is a brilliant example of this duality. In this story (novel and TV series), the protagonist discovers the existence of another, invisible London, the London Below. Every London Underground station hides a secret world that reminds us of the city’s medieval past. There is a monastery under Blackfriars, at Earl’s Court lives an actual earl with his court, and under Angel hides… well, an Angel!

Some urban fantasy series are set in the near future or an alternate reality where supernatural creatures revealed their existence to the world. In True Blood, the TV series inspired by The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, the invention of synthetic blood allowed vampires to live peacefully with humans—at least in theory. In this series, we find the usual supernatural creatures one might expect in a fantasy story: fairies, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, demons, etc. On the other hand, the series doesn’t shy away from real social issues: drug abuse, racism, religious fanaticism and intolerance in general.

In some urban fantasy series, the supernatural exists at the fringes of human society, and paranormal creatures coexist with humans without threatening our society. In other series, however, the supernatural threatens the very survival of our civilization. In Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, for example, magic tears apart the fabric of our technological society, forcing humans to adapt. In this near-future, post-apocalyptic world, what was once considered supernatural is now part of everyday life.

As we can see already from the examples above, urban fantasy is more diverse than one might think. In the next posts, we will explore further this fascinating genre in all its diversity.

Urban fantasy and paranormal romance

Is there a difference between urban fantasy and paranormal romance? This is a moot question. In theory those are different genres; however in reality it’s difficult to separate them. Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series is undoubtedly urban fantasy, while The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J. R. Ward is usually considered as paranormal romance. But what about Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, for example? Many book series that belong to the urban fantasy genre also have romance as one of the main ingredients, but this is not always the case.

Personally I equally enjoy good urban fantasy stories with or without romance, but I have no interest in books that focus too much on romantic relationships to the detriment of storytelling, character development or world building. And I must warn you: I dislike books that describe in detail every sex scene. Don’t expect me to read and review those.

One last point before concluding this article: urban fantasy is for anyone who enjoys a good, imaginative story, irrespective of their age, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The genre is so diverse that everyone should be able to find urban fantasy books to their tastes, and yours truly is here to help!

Whether you enjoy books, comic books, movies or TV series, you can’t escape this—“darkness” is everywhere. “Dark”, “darkness”, the words that evoked fear in our ancestors are used nowadays as marketing tools. But what do we mean by “dark” when referring to a work of fiction?

Historically, it was the 18th-century Gothic novel that transformed negative emotions such as fear or melancholy into a source of pleasure (see the Gothic Novel and The Gothic: 250 Years of Success). However, the success of this initial wave of terrifying stories was short-lived, and in the 1820s this genre gave way to a more sophisticated kind of aesthetics—the Romantic movement was on the rise.

During the 19th and the 20th centuries—roughly until the 1970s—horror fiction was little more than an underground culture, although some horror books and movies managed to achieve long-lasting popularity. For example, classic adaptations of Frankenstein by James Whale and Dracula by Tod Browning were successful in the 1930s and remain influential to the present day.

The situation changed dramatically toward the end of the 1970s, when a tsunami of darkness swept away the naïve enthusiasm of the post-war period. This impressive attack of the “dark side” operated on several fronts. In 1974 appeared the first novel by Stephen King, Carrie, and two years later Anne Rice published the first book of her famous Vampire Chronicles (Interview with the Vampire, 1976). In the 80s and the 90s, Stephen King’s popularity was nothing less than phenomenal, and some other authors writing horror fiction enjoyed considerable success.

Darkness does not necessarily equal horror, however. Science fiction and fantasy also grew darker in the 70s and the 80s. Those ugly and often ridiculous monsters who terrorized beautiful girls on the covers of pulp magazines were history—a new breed of monstrosities was about to transform science fiction. In Alien (1979), Ridley Scott created a shocking, futuristic aesthetic of fear. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) blended science fiction with film noir, and challenged our perception of human condition in the process. The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984) and Predator (John McTiernan, 1987) introduced us to new, disturbingly realistic sorts of killing machines.

Fantasy also grew darker during that period. Far from innocent fairytales for kids, fantasy drew inspiration from its roots: myths, medieval ballads, and history itself. And God knows human history is a bloody business. Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné, for example, is not your average sword & sorcery hero. He is a sorcerer and a necromancer capable of both heroism and cruelty. Knights in shining armor are no longer fashionable. Readers crave for a different kind of protagonists: anti-heroes (Stephan R. Donaldson’s Lord Foul’s Bane, 1977), torturers (Gene Wolfe’s The Shadow of the Torturer, 1980), assassins (Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice, 1995), and others.

Fantasy grew gritty, brutal, sometimes bleak and pessimistic. No need to insist on the influence of the Game of Thrones (this book had enough publicity already). Let’s mention a few noteworthy authors such as Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen), Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn series), Joe Abercrombie (The First Law Trilogy), Patrick Rothfuss (The Kingkiller Chronicle), and Mark Lawrence (The Broken Empire trilogy).

Urban fantasy was not immune to the overwhelming rise of darkness neither. Although the very first urban fantasy stories were relatively light in tone (War for the Oaks by Emma Bull, Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint), horror quickly found its way into this subgenre, starting with Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton, and followed by The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Those stories are teaming with vampires, ghouls, zombies, necromancers, and the nastiest sorts of black magic.

In your opinion, why are we craving for this sort of terrifying stories? What makes them so appealing to science fiction and fantasy readers?

New York Times Best Seller List

In June, one science fiction book and two fantasy books made it to the New York Times best seller list (adult fiction, hardcover):

THE WATER KNIFE, by Paolo Bacigalupi (Knopf) (science fiction)

The author of The Windup Girl delivers a near-future thriller that casts new light on how we live today—and what may be in store for us tomorrow. This book made a brief appearance in 15th position on the NYT best seller list.

B&N Bookseller’s Picks for June 2015

In this installment of The Night and Nothing series, Finn Sullivan discovers that her town, Fair Hollow, borders a dangerous otherworld.

A comment, if I may. I had a bit of fun listing the adjectives and other qualifiers used in the blurb for this book: “dark, moody, mystical, bewitching, intriguing, dangerous, painful, bohemian, terrifying, placid, picture-perfect, eerie, supernatural, wealthy, beautiful, terrifying (again!), striking, mysterious, powerful, brave, malevolent, diabolical, comfortable, magical, shocking, lush, gorgeously written, star-crossed, bestselling.” Whoever wrote this blurb should be nominated for the Purple Prose Award.

Book blurbs are becoming little more than a collection of clichés loaded with empty qualifiers (well, the same can often be said about the books themselves). That makes me sad, unhappy, depressed, downcast, miserable, downhearted, despondent, despairing, disconsolate, dispirited, wretched, broody, glum, gloomy, doleful, dismal, blue, melancholic, low-spirited, woeful, woebegone, forlorn, unsatisfied, and so on.

In this anthology, S. M. Stirling invites more than a dozen other writers to join him in expanding his rich Emberverse canvas. The Emberverse is a long-running series of novels set in a post-apocalyptic world where technology failed and magic re-emerged.

The Darkling Child: The Defenders of Shannara, by Terry Brooks (Del Rey)

A stand-alone novel set in the legendary Shannara universe by the NYT bestselling author Terry Brooks.

“Perched high on a cliff, it’s easy to see why the haunting remains of Whitby Abbey were inspiration for Bram Stoker’s gothic tale of Dracula,” states the English Heritage website.

The story of Whitby Abbey in itself could be the subject of a book. This story begins in 657 with the foundation of a monastery by Hilda of Whitby. This monastery became one of the most important religious centers in the Anglo-Saxon world. Following the withdrawal of Roman legions from Britain, Northumbria emerged as a powerful independent kingdom. Members of the Northumbrian royal family were buried at the Whitby monastery, which shows the symbolic importance this monastery had at that time. The layman Cædmon, the earliest English poet whose name is known, lived and died in Whitby in the 7th century. The memorial to Cædmon has been preserved and can be seen in St Mary’s Churchyard.

Ruins of Whitby Abbey in the fog

Whitby monastery was abandoned in the 9th century, probably because Viking raids. In 1078, when Viking invasions were already history, a monk named Reinfrid founded a new monastic community at Whitby. Initially the monastery was built of wood, but in the 12th century it was rebuilt in stone in the Romanesque style. Later, in the 13th century, the monastery was rebuilt again, this time in the Gothic style. As many Gothic buildings, Whitby Abbey was built in stages, and the work continued with interruptions until the 15th century.

Following the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, the abbey was abandoned and its buildings sold to Sir Richard Cholmley (1578). During the Civil War (1642–51), the Parliamentarian troops captured Whitby and looted the Abbey House. After the war Sir Hugh Cholmley II restored it and added a new wing, known as the Banqueting House.

Ruins of Whitby Abbey in the sunrise

The Cholmleys abandoned the place in the 18th century. The Abbey House suffered from storms and part of its roof was removed. Weakened by erosion, the shell of the abbey church also started to collapse. The south transept collapsed in 1736, the nave in 1763, the central tower in 1830, and the south side of the presbytery in 1839.

In the 19th century, the Strickland family, descendants of the Cholmleys, entered in possession of Whitby Abbey. At that time, the abbey ruins became a popular tourist destination.

In 1914 Whitby was shelled by a German fleet. The abbey ruins were hit and the west front was damaged. In 1920 the Strickland family handed the abbey over to the Ministry of Works. English Heritage carried out archaeological excavations and surveys at this site between 1993 and 2008. The visitor centre was built during that period.

Such is the story of Whitby Abbey. The symbolic importance of this building changed constantly over the centuries. Place of spirituality and knowledge, place of power, place of violence and tragedy, place of hope, place of leisure, place of artistic inspiration.

Ruins of Whitby Abbey

Why did Bram Stoker find inspiration here, among the ruins of Whitby Abbey? The past haunting the present—such has always been the main motif in Gothic fiction. Medieval ruins remind us that we cannot break from our history, at least not completely. Dracula is an intruder from our past; he brings with him the memories of troubled times and the ways of our ancestors. Yet we cannot ignore our medieval heritage. Whether it causes awe or fear, the medieval culture is still an important part of our civilization, and it will remain part of our culture for the decades to come.

The author of The Windup Girl delivers a near-future thriller that casts new light on how we live today—and what may be in store for us tomorrow.

Trial of Intentions by Peter Orullian (Tor)

The gods who created this world have abandoned it. In their mercy, however, they chained the rogue god—and the monstrous creatures he created to plague mortalkind—in the vast and inhospitable wasteland of the Bourne.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Del Rey, Random House)

The author of the Temeraire novels introduces a bold new world rooted in folk stories and legends.

Twice a year, Goths, steampunks, vampires, and other alternative culture lovers flock to Whitby, a small town located in North Yorkshire, to attend the Whitby Goth Weekend. This festival has been running since 1994 and is one of the largest of its kind in the world. It’s a brilliant opportunity to see some imaginative, wonderfully scary, sometimes phantasmagorical costumes.

Now let’s cross the Whitby Swing Bridge and venture into Church Street. We meet couples in gorgeous Victorian or steampunk costumes. Some of them are kind enough to pose for the camera!

Whitby Goth Weekend, April 2015.

The feeling of unreality grows stronger. It’s difficult to believe we are still on Earth!

Whitby Goth Weekend, April 2015. Fantastical gathering in the middle of the street!Whitby Goth Weekend, April 2015. Vampire gathering in broad daylight!

What? Vampires gathering in broad daylight! Did they drink fae blood? Call vampire slayers! I dial 913. “Hello, Whitby vampire hunters. How can we help you today?” I tell them what I saw. “Vampires on Church Street? Oh, this is normal, you see. No worries; they are vegetarian.” Ah. That explains a lot. “Good day, sir.”

Vegetarian vampires on the streets at noon? There is something fishy going on in Whitby. I’m glad I brought my vampire slayer kit with me. Just in case.

Okay, now let’s go up the stairs toward the Church of Saint Mary and Whitby Abbey.

Whitby Goth Weekend, April 2015.

I would like to thank all the lovely people who allowed me to take a picture of them. Very kind of you indeed!

About the Author

Geek, science fiction fan, novelist, and essayist, A. J. is passionate about all things nerdy. He has a PhD in neuroscience and cell biology, alongside a degree in literature, and he is a member of the Society of Authors. The mysteries of the human mind, astronomy, and quantum physics have captivated his imagination since childhood. A fan of Ridley Scott, he likes his science fiction with a dark edge.